Commonwealth v. Spillman

Citations

• 74 Pa. Super. 192
• 1920 Pa. Super. LEXIS 120

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Conspiracy to cheat and defraud trust company— Kiting checks.</p> <p>A conviction of the crime of conspiracy to cheat and defraud a trust company will be sustained, if there is sufficient evidence to show that there was present a common design between the defendants to divert the funds .of a trust company improperly to their benefit or the benefit of any one of them, or to secure profits to themselves or any of them by devious and unlawful methods, to the injury of the trust company. Nor is it necessary that the unity of purpose or design requisite to secure a conviction of the conspiracy should be manifested by an equal sharing of the spoils among the conspirators, or a use of the funds thus obtained in the game enterprise. If the actions of the conspirators showed a common design that one of their number should specially profit as a result of their illegal operations, there was present sufficient unity of purpose or design to secure a conviction in a prosecution for conspiracy to cheat and defraud a trust company.</p> <p>In the trial of an indictment for conspiracy to cheat and defraud, the case was for the jury and the verdict of guilty will be sustained, where it appeared from the Commonwealth’s evidence that two of the defendants had purchased a controlling interest in the trust company with funds obtained from the third defendant by kiting his checks; that thereafter the said two defendants were elected directors and officers of the trust company and that they continued the system of kiting the third defendant’s checks in ever increasing amounts and also discounted notes for the third defendant without proper security, and that such transactions finally resulted in the failure of the trust company.</p> <p>Appeals — Assignments of error — Statement of question involved.</p> <p>Matters raised in the assignments of error should be referred to in the statement of the questions involved, and failure to do so is reason for diregarding the assignmen